AUCTIONS AND DEFERRED PAYMENTS.

Patea Mail, 19 December 1881, Page 3

AUCTIONS AND DEFERRED PAYMENTS.

“ Settler ” writes to us from Nelson : I Avas much pleased to read in the Mail the communication from “ Colonist” upon the subject of “ Auctions and deferred payments.” The remark of Major Atkinson which drew forth the said communication Avas one which struck rne A'ery forcibly indeed, Avhen I read the speech in which it Avas reported. If Major Atkinson should be returned (as 1 belieA'e is A'ery piobable), I should certainly like him to study the question of the desirability of reverting to the ballot in decidingdeferred payment applications. I believe he Avill find the statements of “ Colonist” substantially correct, and that it is the sale by auction system and not the ballot system which has not ansAvered. It is notorious that in Otago, Avhere the Major says the ballot system has been tried and “ found bad,” that the sale system has also been tried and “ found Averse”; in fact so much Averse, that as “ Colonist ” remarks, great numbers of settlers have had to give up their land because of the extreme prices to Avhich the excitement of an auction had induced them to go ; and in the great majority of cases they have been permitted to repurchase it at the upset price. I feel conA'inced that if Major Atkinson Avill give the subject the consideration Avhich its importance Avarrants, ho will alter his vieAvs on the subject. It is impossible that a man of his fair and honest mind can desire to perpetuate a system fraught Avith such evil to struggling settlers as is the one under consideration.

In the forthcoming land sale in your district, the upset prices of the deferred payment sections have been fixed at from 12 to 16 per cent more than the cash sections, while I understand the value of the land is exactly equal. At the recent sale in October the prices Avere alike. Can you, Sir, explain Avhy this alteration? Is it considered that the deferred payment system is one to help poor men to obtain homesteads of their own ? If so, why handicap them by fixing, I Avas going to say a fictitious, but at all events an extra price upon the land, to be competed for by those least able to pay an increased price ? Though 1 am an outsider, I should like you to find room for this letter. It may induce some who have had experience of the s}-stem to state their views; and though it may be a simple matter to discuss, I believe it is one to Avhich great numbers of colonists attach considerable importance.

I believe Parliament during last session affirmed the desirability of deciding these applications by ballot, and if settlers desire the affirmation embodied in an Act of Parliament, it only rests with them to see that it is done.—Though an outsider, an intending Waimate Plains.

Settler.